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On the Eve of the Fourth International Congreso: Strengthening the Knowledge of the Ancient Maya Script

The Fourth International Congreso is just around the corner in July, and we are gearing up for an unforgettable event. Thanks to all of our donors who have helped to make this possible. If you have not yet donated, please click the link above, and your donation will help to fund this historic and cultural event!

This month, we report on two recently funded workshops in Belize and in Chiapas, Mexico. Working with the organization Inno’on-La’oh, Jeremiah Chiac tells us about a beginner’s level weekend workshop for 12 Mopan and Kekchi speakers in Belmopan, Belize held on May 4-5, 2018:

The two day workshop was a success! Mr. Jorge De Leon assisted in his capacity to facilitate the workshop. He covered on the first half day the history of epigraphy and introduction to Hieroglyphs then in the afternoon covered writing our names in Ancient Hieroglyphs. Mr. De Leon was very instrumental in ensuring each participant understood before moving forward.

On the second day we recapped day one briefly and started numbers and calculations in the morning, and then calendar system and birthdays. Each participant was excited to know that they can now write their name and birthday in Ancient Hieroglyphs.

Mr. Jorge de Leon instructs the students about the rules of hieroglyphic writing

Following the issuing of certificates, the students provided the following feedback:

“It was a great honor for me to attend this workshop. I have learned some of the meaning of the hieroglyphs. I really like this workshop because it teaches me to be proud of who I am and my background. Also, most of all at least I can write my name in my very own language.”

“I really enjoyed the training and like the initiative that Inno’on – La’oh is doing. It was so wonderful to learn more about the origin of the Mayas and see how all their words have different meanings. What I enjoyed the most is their numbering system and its additions. Great job guys!”

“The hieroglyphs workshop is absolutely insightful…In these two days I learned quite a lot, for example when he used a tablet and I translated it into my native language – having quite close a meaning”

Students study the syllabary in Belmopan, Belize

In Las Margaritas, Chiapas, Hermelinda Gómez López reports on a two-day workshop she taught and facilitated for 35 Tojol-ab’al speakers at the Colegio de Bachilleres de Chiapas (COBACH) on April 26-27, 2018. This workshop was made possible thanks to the Precongreso held in Comitán de Domínguez, Chiapas in November of 2017:

The purpose of the workshop was announced as “Strengthening the knowledge about the writing of the Ojeer Maya’Tz’iib’ [Ancient Maya Script], for the revitalization of the language and the Mayan culture of our ancestors”. A brief introduction was given about the importance of the writing of the Ojeer Maya ‘Tz’iib’ as the heritage of our grandparents and grandmothers.

A small description was made of the Tz’iib’ that in Tojol-ab’al is ts’ijb’anel and Aj Tz’iib’ (Ts’ijb’anum) with the support of images such as stelae, codices, vessels and with images where the aj tz’iib’ appears painting or writing on some surface. In the same way, they were given a small introduction about the Tojol-ab’al literacy and Maya epigraphy, making a small comparison of the writing of our ancestors with the way of writing today. Finally, the aim was to raise awareness among young people of being proud of their roots and of appreciating the ancestral knowledge that exists in their community.

On the 27th there was a review of the form of writing of our ancestors, and we explained the use of the Maya syllabary, its pronunciation, its writing and structure of words, the signs they represent, the formation of words in syllables, and the numbering from 1 to 20. Subsequently the young people did exercises to put into practice the knowledge acquired on the subject, about which they were happy and excited as it was the first time they were given this type of workshop.

Teams work together to write words in Las Margaritas, Chiapas

We are very excited about the upcoming Congreso, and there are still spaces available for those who would like to donate and participate in this historic event! For an additional donation, we will be offering a chance to travel to the sites of Copán and Quirigua from June 24-30 for an extensive study of their hieroglyphic inscriptions. For more detailed information, please click the following link:

We are happy to report the first eight recipients of this year’s mini-grants, as well as the launch of our YouCaring web page, titled Maya Hieroglyphic Renaissance!

In our latest cycle of mini-grants, we have chosen to prioritize new applicants, as well as those who may not have applied recently. We are also continuing to accept applications for seven additional mini-grants to be held after this year’s Congreso in July.

We are proud to have been able to award mini-grants to the following eight Maya colleagues, speaking seven different languages in Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize:

We look forward to hearing more about these projects and publishing their reports in future blogs, and we look forward to the next round of applications! Congratulations to all of these recipients, and a hearty thanks to all of you who make these workshops possible through your generous donations! We have an exciting year ahead of us, and the momentum is building for this year’s Congreso in Huehuetenango. Guatemala.

This year, you can be a part of the Fourth International Congreso on Ancient Maya Writing!! For the first time, the organizers have agreed to allow for up to twenty donors to participate in this historic event, and we are offering this unprecedented opportunity to our donors. For an additional donation, we will be offering a chance to travel to the sites of Copán and Quirigua from June 24-30 for an extensive study of their hieroglyphic inscriptions. Please see our YouCaring web page for further details:

This month, we are happy to announce the dates of the upcoming Fourth International Congreso on Ancient Maya Writing that will take place this upcoming July 2-6 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. For more information about the event, please feel free to contact the organizing team at the Proyecto Lingüistico Francisco Marroquin (PLFM):

We will soon be inaugurating this year’s fund drive to help support this event, so please stay tuned for further updates on how you can help! We always appreciate your ongoing support, which makes our work possible. In the meantime, if you would like to help support the upcoming Congreso, please feel free to donate:

Lastly, thanks to the generous donations of our many supporters, we are pleased to announce that we will be awarding fifteen new mini-grants for this coming year! Our team is currently reviewing the applications we have already received, and we will continue to accept more applications until we have awarded all fifteen mini-grants. Approximately half of these will be granted before the upcoming Congreso in July, and the remaining mini-grants will be awarded following this event.

We look forward to an exciting year ahead!

Thank You all for your continued support and interest in our shared goals.

Happy Gregorian New Year to everyone! I recently returned from a trip to Guatemala, where I was able to have a productive meeting with Juan Rodrigo Guarchaj and Ajpub Pablo Garcia Ixmata to help plan for the upcoming Fourth International Congreso this July. Following this, I traveled to Belize, where I led a student trip that included facilitating a workshop with Ernesto and Aurora Saqui and Manuel Bolon for 28 participants in Maya Centre in the Stann Creek District.

I had met Ernesto and Aurora on two previous student trips that I co-led in Belize in 2003 and 2004, and it was a great honor to work with them again at the beautiful grounds of their Nuuk Che’il Cottages where they hosted our one-day workshop under a large, thatched meeting hall on January 7th. After meeting Manuel Bolon at the Third International Congreso in 2016, Manuel invited me to come to Belize to help with hieroglyphic instruction, since some time had passed since 2013, when our former president, Bruce Love, facilitated workshop with Ernesto Saqui in Toledo.

As we enter into the holiday season at the end of the year, we find that today’s date, 4 Ajaw, recalls both the auspicious Long Count Era Base date of 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk’u, and the culmination 13 Bak’tuns in December of 2012, already almost five years ago now. We have completed the very first Hotun of the New Era.

Firstly, I wanted to fully recognize all of the members of the PLFM Team on Ancient Maya Writing, who have successfully organized and carried out four Pre-Congreso events this year!

Juan Rodrigo Guarchaj

Ajpub’ Pablo García

Saqijix Candelaria Ixcoy

Hector Xol Choc

María Beatriz Par

The final Pre-Congreso took place in Comitán, Chiapas late last month, and we look forward to reporting back to you about it in a future post.

Next, I would like to thank all of those who generously donated to our first #GivingTuesday fund drive! We appreciate all of your kind hearted support as we prepare for many exciting events in the coming year.

Later this month, I will be heading to Antigua, Guatemala to meet with the PLFM team to help coordinate our efforts for the coming year. Following this, in early January, I will be working together with Ernesto and Aurora Saqui, Manuel Bolon, and Felicita Cantun to host a Maya Writing Workshop for 16 participants in Maya Centre, Belize. I am looking forward to a productive start to the New Year!

This month, I would like to present an exciting report from events in the field in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Milner Rolando Pacab Alcocer reports back to us about the colorful Public Exposition and Demonstration of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing by Maya Primary School Teachers of the Ko’one’ex Kanik Maaya Program.

From all of us at MAM, I wish you all a wonderful holiday, and a Happy New Year!

Yum Bo’otik,Michael J. Grofe, PresidentMAM

Report from the Ko’one’ex Kanik Maaya ProgramMerida, Yucatan, Mexico

I present to you the report of activities carried out in the month of March of 2017 with a group of 25 Mayan language teachers of the Ko’one’ex Kanik Maaya Program of the State of Yucatán, who learned about Mayan glyphs in order to teach about them in the primary schools where they work, as well as photographs documenting these activities.

In March, there were two separate activities: the “Exhibition and Public Demonstration of Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing” and a “Mayan Glyph Workshop.”

The First Pre-Congreso: Expanding the Reach of the Hieroglyphic Renaissance

This month, as we remember all those dearly departed we have lost, and as the full moon rises high to the zenith above the Maya world, I wanted to celebrate a shining light of new undertakings this year by publishing a detailed report from Juan Rodrigo Guarchaj, the Executive Director of the Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín, regarding the First Pre-Congreso of Ancient Maya Writing that took place this past July 11-14 in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. This was the first of four such events in 2017 designed to reach out to additional Maya communities who have not yet taken part in the revitalization of the hieroglyphic script. This first event in Cobán was able to reach speakers of ten different Mayan languages, while two additional pre-Congreso events in Huehuetenango and Takalik Abaj followed in October, reaching out to additional Maya communities and teachers. This first event, along with an upcoming event to take place this month in Chiapas, was supported in part by MAM, with much thanks to our generous supporters, along with the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala, the Guatemala Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, and the PLFM.

While MAM was regretfully unable to fund all of these new events, we are very glad to have been able to lend our support where our budget allows, and we are thrilled to see our Maya colleagues organizing and procuring funding for these larger events, with the admirable goal of reaching additional Maya communities. We will be working together with the PLFM among others to invite all of these new Maya teachers to apply for our next round of mini-grants, and we hope to meet them all at the next International Congreso next summer! We applaud the wonderful hard work of Juan Guarchaj, Ajpub’ Pablo García, and our many May colleagues who are seeking to connect together the many different international Maya language communities through the shared heritage of the Maya hieroglyphic script.

This December and January, I am planning a trip to Guatemala and Belize, where I am helping to organize a workshop for Belizean Maya Aj Tz’iib’, and working with our various Maya colleagues to plan for the upcoming Congreso and the coming years ahead. I am looking forward to the trip, and to reporting back to all of you with news of our future plans.

Chak’ama’ jun rutzil awach, kweye’j chi ri loq’olaj Uk’u’x Kaj Uk’u’x Ulew katutewechi ́j, xuquje’ kuk’am ub’e’al ucholajil ri nimalaj chak patan kab’an pa kiwi’ ri e qawinaqil. (K’iche’ Maya Language). Please receive a brotherly greeting, hoping that the Creator and Shaper is pouring blessings and positive energies upon you, in the same way that guides you in each of your activities that you perform to strengthen the actions you take in the guidance of your position.

The Foundation PLFM Francisco Marroquín Linguistic Project, and the
Pre-Congreso Workshop Commission of 2017 would like to present to MAM our deep appreciation for the financial support shown in the execution of the First Pre-Congreso Workshop for Ojer Maya Tz’iib’ held on 11, 12, 13 and 14 of July in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. We would like to present our narrative and financial report, with satisfaction from the participants, especially as they have achieved the objectives set out in promoting this practice of raising awareness of Maya-speakers towards a critical thinking in the discussion of proposals and alternatives in the vindication of culture, at the same time on the part of the participants taking a commitment to promote and spread the culture focused on ensuring the recovery and use of knowledge, because only by knowing our past and present reality can we contribute to our future.

We value the support of other state entities such as the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Academy of Mayan Languages of Guatemala, united in a single goal we have been able to carry out this task, which is reflected in our report; At the same time we take the opportunity to request the use of a portion of the remaining funds for the next workshop, and continue to count on your support in the realization of the other workshops to be held this year. We hope to hear from you regarding any of your concerns, assuming your availability for any communication and/or extension to this report.

From the Organizing Committee
Ojer Maya Tz’iib’

Juan Rodrigo GuarchajExecutive Director of the PLFMCoordinator of the Workshop

Group of participants in the event, from different Mayan linguistic communities.

Our hearts go out to our friends in Chiapas, Mexico City, the United States and the Caribbean who have been dealing with the devastation and aftermath of the multiple earthquakes and hurricanes, and to all of those affected by these tragedies. Due to the earthquake in Chiapas, the Pre-Congreso event scheduled for September 23-25 has had to be postponed until November, and we wish all the best to our Maya colleagues for a rapid recovery and a successful event.

This month, I have decided to highlight four of our mini-grant recipients since we have received so many reports back from the field this year, and I would like to celebrate as many of our mini-grant recipients as I can. These workshops, which took place in Chiapas, Yucatan, and Guatemala, are an excellent representation of the range of projects made possible by the generous support of our donors. Immersed in the use of the Maya hieroglyphic script and the calendar, students in these workshops throughout the Mundo Maya produced beautiful works of art, while also learning to read, write and perform calendrical calculations in the writing system of their ancestors.

Thank you to all of our new subscribers!! Please note that our direct donation page is now up and running. There are no transaction fees, and you can choose either a one-time donation or a repeating monthly donation of your choice:

Working with a group of 25 Tzeltal students from the Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas, together with the Casa de Cultura, Martín Gómez Kontsal led a workshop on the history and origins of Maya writing in June of 2017, with the objective of having the students understand and use the Maya script for the purposes of writing in contemporary Tzeltal. Working in teams, the students were thoroughly instructed on the use of the Maya syllabary, and they produced beautiful, large, full-color glyph blocks for each of the family lineage names that originate in Oxchujk. Martín plans to lead another similar workshop for primary school children in Oxchujk in the near future.

Martín reports:

To identify, treasure, and transmit the codes that make up our original culture, threatened by national culture and globalization, are some of the main tasks that writers and researchers must fulfill.

“Working in teams is derived from the concept of community, our community.”

On this auspicious day, we celebrate the day 1 Ajaw, the namesake of the Hero Twin Hunahpu in the Popol Vuh, and the day commemorating the rebirth of Venus as Morning Star in the Dresden Codex Venus Table. Hunahpu willingly sacrificed himself in the fires of Xibalbá, and some say he became the sun itself, like the Central Mexican Nanahuatzin, who gives his light and his life so that all things can live—a true act of generosity. Some say he is akin to the self-sacrificing Quetzalcoatl, whose heart becomes the planet Venus, much as the planet itself appears to dive into the fiery sun in the evening sky, only to valiantly reappear several days later as the Morning Star.

While the reappearance of Venus in the morning took place back in March of this year, the brilliant planet is still visible as Morning Star on this day, and we are now just four days from a remarkable total solar eclipse—yet another focus of both the Dresden Venus Table, and the Lunar Table that follows it in that incredible Postclassic document, distilled from many generations of Maya observers. This sophisticated knowledge of astronomy, and the profound, symbolic stories which were used to instruct and educate on multiple levels, are examples of the rich cultural and scientific achievements of the Maya which deserve our deepest respect and recognition.

Knowledge of Maya writing and astronomy was almost completely destroyed by the fires of ignorance some 500 years ago, and for too long it has remained relatively untaught and uncelebrated in classrooms throughout the world—especially in classes of young Maya students. Thankfully, that is all starting to change. We at MAM uphold the importance of celebrating and disseminating the knowledge of the achievements of the Maya past, and helping Maya teachers who are passionately working with their students to help them learn the writing of their ancestors.

In the spirit of generosity, and celebration this month, we report back from the field from Tojolab’al students in las Margaritas, Chiapas with a report from K’anal Ajpub’ Santiz—who likewise takes her namesake from this day! Though this workshop took place almost one year ago, we are still catching up with receiving and publishing reports from some of the thirty mini-grants we have granted over the past year, and we hope to be able to publish as many of these reports as we can to acknowledge the excellent work of as many of our mini-grant recipients as possible.

Furthermore, K’anal Ajpub’ Santiz will be coordinating another pre-Congreso event that we are helping to support, scheduled to take place in Chiapas in September of this year. The purpose of this event will be to work with Chontal, Tzotzil, Tojolob’al, and Tz’eltal speakers who have not yet participated in the revitalization of the hieroglyphic script. If you would like to help contribute your support for events such as this, please visit our donation page where we have now initiated a monthly subscribership. We invite you to become a sustaining member of MAM, and we thank you for all of your generous support!

New Beginnings and the CAPEMAYAXTUN: Centro de Aprendizaje de La Escritura Maya “Yaxtun”

This month, we have many new announcements to report! Our treasured Treasurer, Al Meador, has retired. Al has worked with MAM since the very beginning, and we thank him for his many years of tireless service on behalf of Maya communities.

As of June 1st, we are pleased to announce that we have brought Sue Glenn back on board to fill the position of Treasurer, and Sue brings with her a great enthusiasm to facilitate some of the changes that are currently taking place, as our Maya colleagues expand their outreach efforts to reach additional Maya communities who have not yet participated in the revitalization of their ancestral script.

This July 11-13, there will be the first of several proposed pre-Congreso events to take place throughout the Mundo Maya in preparation for the upcoming Congreso next year. This first event will take place in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, and it is designed to instruct Maya teachers from Q’eqchi ‘, Poqomchi’, Sakapulteko, Uspanteko, Achi, Ixil, Mopán, Itzaj, and Ch’orti language communities who have not yet had access to resources and instruction concerning the Maya hieroglyphic script. Organized by members of the PLFM and supported in part by MAM, this event inaugurates a new chapter in our collective efforts to help Maya teachers and students reconnect with their history. Continue reading →

On this Memorial Day, I would like to both celebrate the incredible work of Luis May Ku and the construction of the beautiful Áayin K’uj (Crocodile God) Stela, which he created to commemorate the “21 de Marzo” Primary School in Cobá, Quintana Roo, Mexico. After a year of hard work, dedication, and planning, this beautiful work of art was unveiled this past March 21st, to celebrate the school’s anniversary and the first day of spring.

The exquisitely sculpted monument depicts the wise, old anthropomorphic Crocodile God on one side, celebrating an important ancient Maya deity and the local reptilian inhabitants of the Laguna Cobá. The reverse side contains a full Long Count and dedicatory text, with each ceramic glyph lovingly sculpted and individually fired in a kiln. The unveiling of the monument was celebrated with a ritual ceremony in which the children of Cobá participated. Here are some photographs of the event, and the beautiful stela, decorated with mosaic tile.

Luis May Ku and the Maya children of Cobá unveil the Áayin K’uj Stela on March 21st.